High School Girls Water Polo: La Serna starts postseason with a bang

WHITTIER - As it prepared for this year's CIF-Southern Section Division 4 girls water polo playoffs, La Serna High harbored dreams of making a long postseason run.

Those objectives remain intact for the Lancers, who emerged with a dominating 19-4 victory over Temple City in Thursday's first-round game at Whittier High School.

The 1-2 punch of Jenel Rivera and Gabby Pierandozzi helped lead the way for Del Rio League champion and No. 4 seed La Serna (19-10), which advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal round against either No. 5 Sunny Hills or No. 10 Aliso Niguel.

Rivera scored six goals to lead the host Lancers, while Pierandozzi had five goals.

"It was a very good win," Pierandozzi said. "We played very well. I'm proud of my team. We were in a little bit of a funk but I think we're coming out of it. We're very excited (about going to the quarterfinals), and we'll see what happens."

La Serna coach Erin Brown praised her team's overall effort.

"The girls came out on fire," Brown said. "They were hungry for a win. I felt like we really came out to win, and they definitely delivered. Late last week, we had really good practices. We've been very focused.

"We want to go far in CIF this year. We had a tough schedule - we played different teams that were ranked at the top of their divisions. I believe that helped prepare us for CIF. We're happy to have a first-round win, and now we're getting ready for the quarterfinals."

Isabella Villa had three goals and Katie Hill had two for La Serna.

Haley Minichiello-Osborn scored two goals to lead the Rams, who finished their season at 17-13. Temple City took second place in the Rio Hondo League.

The Rams took a quick 1-0 lead by scoring on their first possession of the game, which ended with Kyrsten Proctor's goal.

Temple City's initial burst of momentum wouldn't last long, however, as the Lancers responded with 13 consecutive goals.

La Serna's defense also played a major role as it kept the Rams off the scoreboard until the third quarter.

Pierandozzi started the surge by scoring the Lancers' first two goals. She tied the game at 1-1 with 5:10 remaining in the first quarter before giving La Serna the lead less than two minutes later.

Back-to-back goals by Rivera and Pierandozzi's third goal gave the Lancers a 5-1 advantage after one quarter.

La Serna put the game out of reach by outscoring the Rams 6-0 during the second quarter.